A delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, headed by the Chairman, Predrag Markovic, visited Budapest, Hungary, on Friday 6 May and Saturday 7 May 2005. At the invitation of the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, Dr Katalin Szili, Mr Markovic attended the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, addressing the Conference in its section dealing with relations between the European Union and the Western Balkans.

The chair of this section of the Conference, the Speaker of the Austrian Parliament, Dr Andreas Khol, stressed the importance of improving bilateral co-operation between European parliaments, citing, as a positive example, the co-operation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary through the development of specialised programmes, such as the Tolerance Programme.

Addressing his counterparts from European parliaments, Mr Markovic spoke of the specific circumstances of Serbia’s accession to European integrations, underlining the role of the National Assembly in obtaining a favourable assessment of the Feasibility Study, its efficiency (passage of 97 acts in the previous year), as well as the need for further strengthening the Assembly as an institution through the adoption of a National Assembly Act, which would involve amending the Rules of Procedure to ensure more efficient Committee work in preparing laws and accelerate the procedure of adopting new legislation. He added that the Serbian Assembly had adopted a Resolution on Joining the European Union, thereby showing that there was political consensus and that there were no opponents of the European Union in Serbia.

Mr Markovic drew attention to the results of work of the European Integrations Committee of the National Assembly, referring to them as positive, both with respect to the development of bilateral relations and for future preparation and harmonisation of legislation with EU standards. He underlined that the process awaiting Serbia on the road towards EU membership was a very difficult one, and that one government and one parliament alone would not be able to accomplish it, but that Serbia would be able to draw on experiences of countries in the region and thus accelerate the process of joining the European family of nations. Mr Markovic added that he was hopeful that Serbia would commence negotiations on concluding the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in October 2005, in accordance with the assessment of the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn.

Speaking about experiences of countries from the region, Mr Markovic underlined that Serbia knew how hard and sometimes traumatic the road to Europe was, calling for solidarity and investments into Serbia, so that all countries of the Western Balkans would be able to join the European Union as soon as possible through regional co-operation and without new conditions being posed.

Expressing his thanks to the organisers for the invitation to attend the Conference, Mr Markovic underlined the importance of co-operation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia with the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary through the Tolerance Programme, and announced the First Tolerance Youth Camp, to be organised by the National Assembly in late May 2005 in the northern Serbian city of Subotica to give an opportunity for young people from Serbia and Hungary to meet, with the aim of fostering inter-ethnic co-operation and tolerance.

Parliamentary speakers from 25 EU member states, 4 candidate countries and countries which received a favourable assessment of the Feasibility Study attended the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments. In addition to the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the delegation included Assembly secretary Marko Danilovic and Ksenija Milivojevic, chairperson of the European Integrations Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.